Gain Material

Gaining material basically means that you take a more valuable piece than what your opponent will get. The simple example is if you take your opponents queen with your knight and then lose your knight. You have gained material since the queen that you took is more valuable than the knight you lost. You will always want to be looking for ways to gain material so that you can gain an upper hand in each chess match. Remember though, not every move that gains material is always that best move. Before you play any move in chess, be sure to look carefully to see if you have a better move that can be made.